Our liberation struggles clash with intolerance and prejudice

Police officers dispersing angry residents of Elementaita, in Gilgil Sub-County, who were protesting outside Elementaita Police Station on December 26, 2024. The demonstrators were accusing the station officers of negligence following the brutal murder of a 72-year-old widow who was raped and killed after being struck on the head with a blunt object in her home. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

As 2024 comes to a close, it will go down in history as a year worth remembering for both joyful and mournful reasons. On the one hand, the endless cases of femicide and police brutality, as well as the ongoing abductions, left a bad taste in the mouth of many. In spite of this, Kenyans, and especially the youth, showed their resilience and patriotism by fighting for their country and against bad governance, and it looks as though the struggle will continue well into the new year.

But amidst this revolutionary moment, a disquiet buzzes in the background. Online, the movement to resist poor governance is led by all, but none are more loud and prominent than the voices that, prior to the protests, gained notoriety through peddling the ideas of what is known colloquially as the manosphere. In a nutshell, the manosphere is a movement that espouses purportedly masculine ideals, seeking to return to an era where men ruled over women and children without question. This movement holds under its umbrella several groups of men, from those who are woefully alone (incels), to those who choose solitude (men going their own way), and those obsessed with bedding as many women as possible (pick up artists), to name a few subsets. In spite of their differences in ideology, one uniting factor in the manosphere is rampant misogyny. As a consequence, the unfortunate marriage between the manosphere and liberation movements online has bred an online campaign that espouses misogyny and sexism at its most technologically advanced peaks.